Gates to Glory: Epic Fantasy Adventure Tale (Ashurran #1)

4.04. Faelivrin's Death

Having lost his beautiful Elven captive, Indra found himself with a mother, a General's rank and in the High King's favor. Anyone would have called that a profitable exchange; anyone but Indra Ashurranid. With each passing day his being away from the Elf hurt him more, not less. Indra tried to find solace in the company of the most beautiful young men of the human race, but couldn't. They just annoyed him for no reason, made him angry or bored, and he would send them away. Like a boat is swept away with a strong wind, the human reason could be swept away with a passion or thought that became an obsession.

Indra had no idea whatsoever that Faelivrin was his blood relation. Indra was exceptionally beautiful, but his beauty was that of a human, not an Elf. He took more after his mother, than his father. He honestly thought Kymona the centurion was his father, and everyone else thought the same. Ashurran was known to have love affairs with her officers. So, she probably thought it beneath her having a child with a common centurion, that's why she had sent them both away. Indra was so sure of it, he never even asked. Levorham could have told him the truth, but after the Meddvi incident she left for Kymbaeth, leaving Ashurran to her own devices.

As for Ashurran, she couldn't bring herself to tell Indra the whole truth. The mighty warrior princess was afraid of nothing; she could love or fight to the death, she had been throwing herself headlong into every danger all her life. But now she was afraid to reveal to Indra who was that Elf he had been holding captive for nearly six months. Were she to tell him, the rumor would unavoidably escape and spread throughout all Kassandana like a wildfire. Then it would definitely reach Faelivrin's ears. She couldn't possibly cut out the tongues of every man and woman in her service! What a shock would it be for one of the Fair Folk to learn it was his own son who imprisoned him and lusted after him!

Ashurran decided it was better to tell nothing and let the matter rest. The wise Levorham was not around to tell her that the way to misfortune is paved with good intentions, and a bitter medicine is better than a sweet poison.

Indra's heart pined for Faelivrin, and that was his blood talking, which the human warrior mistook for the carnal love. He was his mother's son, thus not prone to sitting idly and feeling miserable. He started to seek a way to meet with the object of his affections.

It must be said that Ashurran was a woman of foresight; she remembered only too well her own youthful escapades. She hired a magician to surround her estate with a magic wall, which kept out anyone without permission to enter. Her servants were all trustworthy, being long in her service and paid generously. It seemed impossible for anyone to sway their loyalty.

Yet even the most solid wall can be breached, dug under or scaled. Thus in Ashurran's household there was a traitor. Her name was Kais.

She did what she did not for money, but only for justice as she saw it. Kais had been parted with her beloved by his strict parents who wanted him to marry a rich heiress, not some servant girl. So she was sympathetic to Indra's plight. From an outsider's viewpoint the story seemed clear: the high and mighty Ashurran, accustomed to always getting her own way, cruelly yanked the Elf from his lover's arms, to have him all for herself, not even taking into consideration that it was her own son whom she wronged so.

When Indra approached Kais, she agreed to help him. Kais let him inside the magic wall and showed him the grove where Faelivrin usually walked alone.

For two days Indra had been lying in wait for the Elf, burning with his unholy passion. On the third day Faelivrin came at last. The Elf sensed the human from afar and knew him instantly. He hesitated, thinking what to do. He didn't want to betray Indra to Ashurran, for she would punish the young man severely, knowing her character. The Elf decided there would be no harm in meeting his captor one more time and asking him not to pursue him anymore. Truth be told, he felt a strange affection for the human warrior, which was embarrassing and a little scary. Faelivrin couldn't guess why he cared for Indra. Certainly he had never been attracted to a man before, and only to one woman — Ashurran, his wife.